After posting a school-record 29 victories and taking Kansas State to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time in 22 years, coach Frank Martin sees his next challenge clearly laid out. That means building on the success of 2009-10, which included a second-place finish in the Big 12 tournament and regular season and the Wildcats’ first-ever No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. Martin says he’s sure he would not last long in the job if he allowed himself to sit back following Kansas State’s most successful season since the 1980s. K-State now turns the focus toward the future. The Cats have a three member recruiting class with high schoolers Shane Southwell and Will Spradling and junior college transfer Freddy Asprilla. Martin says he has one scholarship left to give for the current recruiting class, with three to four current prospects for that spot. He says though any player he brings in must fit the current makeup of the Cats, or otherwise he’ll hang on to the scholarship for the 2011 recruting class.
Kansas State scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh to break a 3-3 tie as the 20th-ranked Wildcats topped No. 30 Wichita State, 8-3, in front of a Tointon Family Stadium record crowd of 4,745. Carter Jurica broke the tie when he blasted a leadoff home run over the wall in left field. It was Jurica’s fourth homer of the season and the second in as many games. With the win, Kansas State improved to 20-3 overall, its best start since also going 20-3 to start the 2006 season. The Wildcats also picked up their fourth-straight win over the Shockers, the most since winning the first 10 games of the series between 1906 and 1954. K-State has now won eight of the last 11 against WSU, including four of the last six in Manhattan. The 4,745 fans in attendance broke the previous record, which occurred on May 15 last season when 4,280 saw the Wildcats defeat Kansas.
K-State baseball will start a series Thursday night at Texas Tech at 6:30 pm. Coverage begins on KMAN with Matt Walters and Ryan Lackey at 6:00. The series is bumped up one day due to the Easter holiday on Sunday.
The women’s Final Four will have a familiar look with three of last season’s semifinalists returning, including defending national champion Connecticut. The Huskies are two victories away from becoming the first school with consecutive undefeated seasons. Standing in the way in the national semifinals is 6-foot-8 freshman phenom Brittney Griner and Baylor. She has carried the Lady Bears to the Final Four, already setting the NCAA tournament record for blocks in only four games. Stanford will be making its third straight Final Four appearance when it faces Oklahoma in the first semifinal Sunday night in San Antonio. After routing their first three opponents in the tournament, the Cardinal needed a buzzer-beating layup by Jeanette Pohlen to top Xavier in the Sacramento Regional final on Monday night.
After many years of heartbreak, the Frankfort girls basketball team made their second straight state tournament this season. Three Wildcat seniors were named to the All-Twin Valley League teams. All-Stater Chelsea Keating and Erica Dwerlkotte made the first team, while Kara Horigan made the second team. The Blue Valley girls also placed senior Callie Friedrich on the All-TVL first team.
Five area boys seniors received All-TVL honors. Frankfort’s Wade Ahlvers made the first team, while teammates Kyle Huddleston and Caleb Broxterman are on the second team. Blue Valley put both Bryon Nelson and Dalton McGee on the second team.
After helping lead K-State to a historic season, the accolades have been rolling in for Jacob Pullen. The junior guard can add another to his list as the Associated Press has named Pullen an honorable mention All-American. The Cats won a school record 29 games, finished second in the Big 12 conference, and reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Pullen averaged 19.3 points and 3.4 assists per game, along with 40 percent shooting from three point range, and 82 percent from the line. Elsewhere in the Big 12, the AP named Oklahoma State’s James Anderson a second team All-American, KU’s Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich made the second and third team respectively, Texas’ Damion James was tabbed to the third team, and Baylor’s Epke Udoh received honorable mention.
K-State will go for their fourth consecutive victory over Wichita State when the two teams meet on Tuesday night at Tointon Family Stadium. The Cats have dominated the Shockers relatively speaking over the last several years, having won 7 of the last 10 games played, despite still trailing in the series 47-27. K-State coach Brad Hill says playing Wichita State is always special.
The Cats started their Big 12 slate with a bang over the weekend with a three game-sweep of Oklahoma State. The Cats scored 36 runs over the series, and in the final two games, they put the clamps down on a powerful Cowboy offense. With those wins, K-State has returned to the top 25 after a one week absence. The Cats are now ranked #20 in the Collegiate Baseball poll, are #21 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll, and are pegged #28 in the Baseball Writers’ Association poll. The Cats are off to their best start thru 22 games since 2006 at 19-3, as they were 18-4 at this point in their record breaking season a year ago.
#20 K-State baseball will host #30 Wichita State Tuesday night at 6:30 pm at Tointon Family Stadium. Coverage with Matt Walters and Wyatt Thompson begins at 6:00 on SportsRadio 1350.
Cole Aldrich, fighting back tears, said Monday he’ll skip his senior year at Kansas and head for the NBA. The 6-11 center, who averaged almost a double-double for the Big 12 champions, is projected by most experts as a high first-round pick. Aldrich averaged 11.3 points and 9.8 rebounds for the Jayhawks, who were the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament before they were upset by Northern Iowa. He also set a team record with 125 blocks. The Jayhawks are still waiting for a decision by freshman swing man Xavier Henry, their second-leading scorer. It would have been a surprise if Aldrich had elected to remain in school. His father, Walter Aldrich, is a construction worker who’s been put out of a job by the recession. Aldrich, a native of the Minneapolis area, said he planned to hire an agent soon.
The University of Colorado has fired women’s basketball coach Kathy McConnell-Miller. Athletic director Mike Bohn announced the decision Monday and said the university would start looking for a replacement immediately. The CU women’s basketball team were 65-88 during five seasons under McConnell-Miller, whose current contract ran through 2012-13. She was earning about $360,000 a year. According to terms of her contract, McConnell-Miller would be due approximately $280,000 if the university terminated her deal. CU said in a statement that officials were “discussing issues related to her contract of employment and hope to reach agreement in the upcoming days.” Bohn says he will discuss the decision to fire McConnell-Miller after the resolution of her terminated contract.
Ten area high school basketball players were named to the Kansas Coaches’ Basketball Coaches Association All-State teams. Frankfort’s Chelsea Keating has been pegged first all-state in her second sport during her senior season. Keating and her Wildcat teammates claimed the 1A state volleyball title, and she also took her team to a berth in the 1A state basketball tournament. Riley County was a surprise entry in the 3A state girls basketball tournament, as sophomore Kelly Thomson received all-state honorable mention. Also receiving the same honor was Rock Creek’s Becky Lightfoot in 3A, Wamego’s Tera Ingalsbe in 4A, and Manhattan’s Staci Thomas in 6A. Thomas and the Indians won their first Centennial League championship.
Zach Nelson helped lead Manhattan High to their second state tournament berth in the last three years, and was named 6A honorable mention all-state. He averaged 17 points per game and shot over 50 percent from three point range for the Indians. Also receiving honorable mention all-state honors was Wamego’s Lane Lindhorst in 4A, and Pake Ebert of Rock Creek in 3A. Ebert’s teammate, Josh Camacho was named second team all-state, and Frankfort’s Wade Ahlvers also was named second team all-state in 1A.
Kansas State earned its first conference-opening sweep since the inception of the Big 12 as the Wildcats took both games of a Sunday doubleheader by scores of 9-3 and 13-3 at Tointon Family Stadium. With the pair of wins, K-State moved to 19-3 overall, their best start since the 2006 season when the Cats also won 19 of their first 22 games. Oklahoma State fell to 14-6 overall and 0-3 in Big 12 action. After a victory Friday evening and the pair of wins on Sunday, Kansas State recorded their first sweep in a conference-opening weekend since the Big 12 began in 1997. It was also the first three-game sweep of Oklahoma State since 1974.
K-State trailed 3-2 through five innings of the first game, but the Wildcats scored seven unanswered while Thomas Rooke pitched four no-hit innings to guide the Cats to a 9-3 win. Kansas State was led at the plate in the first game by Adam Muenster, who was 2-for-4 with a RBI double and a run scored. Kent Urban recorded his second-straight multi-RBI contest by going 1-for-3 with two runs driven in. Daniel Dellasega also added a two-RBI contest.
Game two saw Kansas State hold a slim 4-2 advantage, but an eight-run fourth inning propelled the Cats to a 13-3 run-rule victory in seven innings. Kyle Hunter (5-0) started game two for K-State and was able to work around a couple of tough situations. The sophomore left-hander surrendered just two earned runs on 10 hits with two walks and four strikeouts to earn the win in his fourth-straight start. The Wildcats were paced at the plate in the second contest by Urban, Carter Jurica and Nick Martini, who each tallied three hits. Jurica, Martini Muenster and Dellasega each drove in multiple runs. With hits in both contests, Martini extended his hitting streak to 19 games, which ties for the fourth-longest in school history. It is also the longest streak in the Big 12 this season and the longest by a Wildcat since Pat Maloney had a 20-game streak in 2001.
Next action for Kansas State comes Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., as the Wildcats take on in-state rival Wichita State at Tointon Family Stadium. SportsRadio 1350 will have pregame coverage beginning at 6:00.